Car and Drivers 2014 Corvette grenaded engine....

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Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle


Offhand, the 370Z brake problem comes to mind!


And it's not just brakes, on a 370Z(NISMO included) the oil temperature can spike and cause the ECU to go into limp mode.

Then there's the "track ready" GT-R- Nissan will void the warranty on that puppy if you drive within ten miles of a road course...


Wait till you see the new C&D with the huge VIR spread.

One of their Subarus ate their brakes with only 2500 miles and sent them off course!
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle


Offhand, the 370Z brake problem comes to mind!


And it's not just brakes, on a 370Z(NISMO included) the oil temperature can spike and cause the ECU to go into limp mode.

Then there's the "track ready" GT-R- Nissan will void the warranty on that puppy if you drive within ten miles of a road course...


Wait till you see the new C&D with the huge VIR spread.

One of their Subarus ate their brakes with only 2500 miles and sent them off course!


I hope you're referring to an STI. Otherwise, Subaru's cars aren't track ready.
 
OK, since you asked:

Subaru WRX, lap time 3:15.5, front brake pads GONE at 2500 miles with a near crash as a result. Quote: "...eerie echo of 370z Nismo brake failure..."

So a GTI (3:19.3), a Fiesta ST (3:20.4), Focus ST (3:17.6) ARE track ready? Despite repeated pounding, nothing failed on these econoboxes...
 
How many of those 2,500miles were track miles? I don't read C&D, nor much of anything performance related.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
How many of those 2,500miles were track miles? I don't read C&D, nor much of anything performance related.


This was a press car, so it had been beaten like a dog its entire life.

They all are, I have personally witnessed a test at Homestead and they did 15 full throttle runs to 150 mph with full on abs braking to a complete stop after every one!
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

Wait till you see the new C&D with the huge VIR spread.

One of their Subarus ate their brakes with only 2500 miles and sent them off course!


I should get my copy today. I continue to be amazed by how many "performance cars" wilt under pressure...
 
A good driver CONSERVES his brakes - you don't just wail on them and hope for the best. Most all Street cars do not have track ready ANYTHING.
Car rag Writer editor as drivers??! Can even one out of 20 of 'em drive out of a wet paper bag?

You saw what Patrick Bedard did many years ago at Indy in 1984?


Search video for Bedard crash.
 
^^^Uh, beg pardon, but 1984 was a couple years ago.

Frankly, many of their drivers are near professional levels and in addition they have TRACK TIME, which is a huge advantage.

Practice makes perfect. This test didn't take place in a day, they did 3 long days of lap after lap, over and over.

Then they quantified the results into a TON of relevant data on real performance under duress. It's actually quite meaningful, and interesting to enthusiasts...
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
^^^Uh, beg pardon, but 1984 was a couple years ago.

Frankly, many of their drivers are near professional levels and in addition they have TRACK TIME, which is a huge advantage.

Practice makes perfect. This test didn't take place in a day, they did 3 long days of lap after lap, over and over.

Then they quantified the results into a TON of relevant data on real performance under duress. It's actually quite meaningful, and interesting to enthusiasts...


Agree 100%
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8

One of their Subarus ate their brakes with only 2500 miles and sent them off course!


I'm trying to find more information on this, but I can't find anything. When did this occur?
 
This is the closest reference I can find, which says they experienced severe brake fade.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/lightning-lap-2009-ll1-2009-subaru-impreza-wrx-3166-page-4

Despite outshining the STI, the WRX laps didn’t go without a little fear and loathing. For example, after one hot lap, early braking at the end of the front straight suggested the binders had perhaps taken the rest of the day off, although not to the hair-raising degree that the Nissan NISMO 370Z’s did. (More on that later.) Brake fade was severe enough that the pedal would sink nearly all the way to the floor, making heel-and-toe downshifting impossible. So we pumped worriedly on the brakes with the left foot, tried to match the revs with the right foot, and with no feet left with which to operate the clutch, simply attempted to time the gearshifts just right.

*** Nevermind, I found it. Someone posted the article online and here's one of the images from it.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3899/14955509440_e0d6c1db28_o.png
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint

I agree. I remember reading about a new engine a few years ago, I won't mention the name to avoid starting a battle here. They claimed 40,000 hours of testing went into the design. After release they had some problems. I got to thinking how many engines did they test for 40,000 hours? Or did they test 40 engines for 1,000 hours, that also totals 40,000 hours of testing. They weren't too specific. The bottom line is the long term testing is done by the consumers, and many times they get screwed. I'm certain C&D can't come close to testing like a mfg would, and even the mfg's testing often falls short.

OT- I will never buy the first year or second year of a new automotive technology. The risk to reward is not worth it, to me. Opinions vary.


You understand.

The most brilliant set of powertrain engineers, and testers cannot begin to duplicate the imagination of thousands of car buyers/drivers when it comes to powertrain testing. Consumers put engines through situations and torture that engineers can't even dream of. Been through it with FoMoCo over numerous powertrain introductions and the first months of warranty repairs on those powertrains. Darned near impossible to anticipate that last percentile of nuts/stupidity/oddball situations that end users are capable of. Sometimes all you can do is cross your fingers and hope it ain't too bad.

Ditto on avoiding intro years of powertrains. Let others be the beta testers.
 
Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle


Offhand, the 370Z brake problem comes to mind!


And it's not just brakes, on a 370Z(NISMO included) the oil temperature can spike and cause the ECU to go into limp mode.


As infuriating as that might be, the brake problem is a VERY serious safety hazard! (C&D discovered it on their Lightning Lap...by putting the car into a tire wall.)

Quote:
Then there's the "track ready" GT-R- Nissan will void the warranty on that puppy if you drive within ten miles of a road course...


Sounds about right!
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: supton
How many of those 2,500miles were track miles? I don't read C&D, nor much of anything performance related.


This was a press car, so it had been beaten like a dog its entire life.

They all are, I have personally witnessed a test at Homestead and they did 15 full throttle runs to 150 mph with full on abs braking to a complete stop after every one!


And if the car is TRULY track-ready...it should survive that with nothing but worn pads! (I'd bet a Corvette, a Cayman, an M3, and a Boss 302 could do so.)
 
Was their car equipped with the dry sump system? If not, they may have unported the oil pickup during track days, starved the engine of oil and the result is a spun bearing. Not unusual at all for non dry sump cars.
 
996 911's were notorious POS..tons of youtube vids about IMS bearing failure, "D" chunk liner failures and porous crankcases leaking fluids between the oil and water galleries and cylinder head cracking.

"Engine failure when the timing chain snapped. Not know at the time but it broke the Intermediate Shaft and bent 10 valves along with a host of other minor issues. The engine cut out which saved a lot more damage. I was taking Craig Phillips from the first Big Brother for a few laps when it happened."

http://youtu.be/YSCPDYuUYL4
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Was their car equipped with the dry sump system? If not, they may have unported the oil pickup during track days, starved the engine of oil and the result is a spun bearing. Not unusual at all for non dry sump cars.


I do not believe that the regular, NA, standard C7 LT1 has a factory dry sump system like the 'performance model', boosted C7s (Z06/ZR1) will have. (Anyone know for sure, as I have never seen it mentioned in the standard C7's specs?
21.gif
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But even this factory dry sump system is not optimal for track situations, which is why most serious open tracked/road raced, gumball race tire equipped, C6 Z06es were converted to a great aftermarket dry sump setup, such as an ARE or the like.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: dailydriver

I do not believe that the regular, NA, standard C7 LT1 has a factory dry sump system like the 'performance model', boosted C7s (Z06/ZR1) will have. (Anyone know for sure, as I have never seen it mentioned in the standard C7's specs?
21.gif
)


The Z51 performance package includes a dry sump system.

Ed
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Agreed. A whole lot of discussion around no solid facts.


That's never inhibited anyone on this forum yet.....

The odd thing is that the few facts that are out there were discounted and disregarded almost immediately.

We do have this from Aaron Brzozowski, formerly with Car and Driver:

"The engine failure was apparently due to metal particles breaking loose from the oil filter (likely from tapping the filter’s threads) and causing the failure of a rod bearing."

I'll go with that until GM engineers provide clarification (they won't).
 
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